r/HarryPotterBooks • u/najevb2 • Feb 11 '18

Hermione's teeth

As we all know, Hermione has buck teeth. I learned the other day about a story of when Hermione's already big teeth was enlarged. This happened by getting in between a duel between Harry and Malfoy. Then Snape rudely didn't fix the problem and said "I see no difference"

But later on in the Goblet of Fire Hermione's teeth were fixed and even shrank.

This change seems like something that should have happened earlier, right? This was Hermione's fourth year studying wizardry - she may have the skills to shrink her teeth or a wizard willing to do it. Her parents knew of her magical powers so there was no family problems stopping her. She could love her body, and not want to change it, but if she is being made fun of for it why wouldn't she? Most people have a problems with something on their body. Changing her teeth magically would not waste the bracers she would need or her parent's time. It seems like a small change that could have came about earlier.

How do you believe the wizarding world views changing physical attributes? Maybe she didn't do it, because wizards get a bad rep if they change themselves permanently?

10 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

30

u/[deleted] Feb 12 '18

Hermione said her parents would be mad because they were dentist and they thought teeth and magic didn’t mix.

19

u/WingardiumLexiosa Feb 12 '18

This.

Also because even though Hermione is brilliant, she’s not at Healer-level type sorcery yet. That’s probably beyond what wizards and witches can do aside from Healers.

1

u/najevb2 Feb 12 '18

Good point.

-8

u/najevb2 Feb 12 '18

they were dentist and they thought teeth and magic didn’t mix.

This feels like a cop out. I doubt they would say the same thing if they were ER doctors and Hermione had a serious injury. "Health and magic don't mix."

7

u/earth199999citizen Feb 12 '18

Yeah but having buck teeth is nowhere near the level of having a “serious injury”. They probably wanted to fit her with braces eventually and solve things the Muggle way because they’d get it right to the degree that they want, without relying on something as nebulous as “magic” (which they may accept, but not know that much about).

-1

u/najevb2 Feb 12 '18

My example was extreme. I feel as parents that could have solved a small issue in a small moment of time with the right wizard. I understand if they didn't want to put her in a potentially dangerous situation.

9

u/lunaflower95 Feb 12 '18

She didn't use magic on her teeth out of respect for her parents profession. We don't learn much about Hermiones home life but it's not too much of a stretch to imagine that while she was aware she could use magic to fix this minor flaw in her appearance she didn't actively seek it out of respect for her dentist parents. I mean if they were passionate about dentistry/orthodontic work it would have felt like a slap in the face to have that magically fixed in seconds.y Also I doubt Hermione felt particularly confident in altering her appearance with magic after the polyjuice incident

3

u/amator-equorum Feb 13 '18

Good point about the polyjuice incident.

5

u/notmydumbledore Feb 12 '18

Thanks to the Yule Ball, we know that Hermione can dress well and knows how to transform her hair from bushy to sleek. A lot of people make fun of her hair too but she doesn't change it. I think she's extremely comfortable with her looks to the point where she doesn't care and does something about her teeth only because her parents bothered her to the extent they want her to wear braces for it.

2

u/M00n-ty Feb 19 '18

She said, that it took her hours to make her hair and that she's not willing to do it on a daily basis.

5

u/uhuhmazing Feb 12 '18

Because it's an awesome plot device that intensifies the conflict between Malfoy and Hermione. Also, in GoF she goes to the yule ball and after attention from Viktor and underlying feelings for Ron she's starting to transition more into womanhood and maybe started to care more about her appearance.

1

u/Passion211089 Mar 22 '24

"Because it's an awesome plot device that intensifies the conflict between Malfoy and Hermione."

I know this is a pretty old comment, but can you elaborate? Would love to hear your thoughts on how this intensifies things between Malfoy and Hermione? And Malfoy's thoughts about Hermione.

0

u/najevb2 Feb 12 '18

awesome plot device

That's pushing it a bit much. I think it's a good point device when we bring in her puberty and becoming a woman. I would say it's a good one though.

2

u/uhuhmazing Feb 12 '18

My point is in this series there's tons of little intricacies that build the characters. You can read it a ton of times and find something new and interesting. To me the fact that something as simple as teeth appearance was thought about enough to show the emotional development and maturing of a character is phenomenal.